A Visit to a Garden
by barbex
Summary: Shepard is beyond stressed in ME3 and Garrus wants to give her a few hours to relax. He employs the help of friends to distract her so that he can prepare their cabin. But his distraction has an unforeseen consequence. This is just happy fluff with a bit of smut mixed in - smuff! Written for a tumblr prompt.


_Written for a prompt on tumblr by spinninglenny:_

 _You said you were doing Fluffy Friday, so here's a prompt: Because they're always on the move, Garrus organizes a romantic date with Shepard in the Captain's cabin on the Normandy. +20 Bonus points if he manages to surprise her, +30 Bonus points for every crew member he has to get involved to pull it off :-)_

 _You asked for fluff? I give you **smuff**! Smut and Fluff!_

 _That's the name thenerdymum came up with, who also wonderfully edited this piece of smuff._

 _This snippet lives in the **Solid Fluidity Verse** , so Jane and Garrus had a relationship during ME1. But ME2 did not start so well for them... this bit here is in ME3._

 _Ten points to whoever knows why Septimus has knowledge about the connection of human sweating and sex..._

 _Also thanks to tumblr user kandros for that line about Hackett and the lights in his house._

* * *

"The Normandy is a small ship, Garrus," said Liara, stating the obvious.

"And you're the Shadow Broker, surely you can think of some ways of deception," Garrus whispered at her and dragged her back into her room. The screens on the wall gave the whole room an artificial tint and Garrus wondered once again how Liara even managed to sleep in here.

"There is no _way of deception_ on Shepard's ship," Liara called out when the door had closed behind her. "I swear, she knows everything; she must feel it in the vibrations of the deck floors or something like that."

"That's ridiculous, she's so tired all the time, she falls asleep whenever she stops moving."

Liara's face turned softer. "Because it's you, you're the only one she lets see her weakened." She sat down and sighed. "She keeps her head up for everyone and she knows everything. I'm the Shadow Broker and she had to tell _me_ that Private Westmoreland and Private Campbell are in love."

Garrus tried to find a place to sit but apparently Liara didn't need more than one stool and he didn't want to sit on her bed. He found a mostly empty area on a table and leaned his elbow on it to relieve some weight from his right leg. A reaper war does not roll over you without taking some toll on your bones.

"Then we have to get her off the ship," Garrus said. "You send her a message that you would like to meet her on the Presidium, maybe, and keep her occupied."

Liara was shaking her head. "I can try but I can never get her to slow down. I tried to have a coffee with her before and the only way we could do that was by me following her with our coffee cups while she spoke to all the people that wanted something from her."

"I know how it is..." He had been reduced to the role of coffee cup carrier himself before. "Just keep her distracted for a while so that Traynor and I can prepare our cabin. I'll get you backup."

"She's going to notice it if everyone on the Normandy tries to get her away from the ship. Do you know how often she checks her messages on the terminal in the CIC? As if she keeps forgetting that she has an omni-tool for that."

Garrus nodded. "She hates that omni-tool, I don't know why." He pushed himself off the table he had leaned on and stretched his neck. There was a disturbing crack to hear as the vertebrae in his neck rearranged themselves. It was kind of hypocritical of him to try and find ways to force Shepard to take a break when he clearly needed one himself. "Just get her off the ship, Traynor will delay all messages to her and you just have to keep her busy until my backup is there."

Liara sighed, "I'll do my best. Just try to find someone convincing to back me up."

Garrus trilled triumphantly, "I have an idea, don't worry."

* * *

Shepard caught herself tapping her foot under the table and stopped before she made the floor vibrate. Liara was going on and on about something involving data she intercepted in her role as the Shadow Broker before turning the conversation to Javik and the book she wanted to write with him. Shepard suspected that the grumpy prothean was not quite honest with Liara and probably treated the book like a joke. She needed to have a talk with him soon. As annoying as Liara could be, no one was allowed to treat her like that.

"What do you think?" Liara asked and looked at her with her unnatural eyebrows pulled up high.

"What?" Shepard desperately replayed the the last minutes in her mind but couldn't recall what Liara had said. "I'm sorry, I was distracted, what did you say?"

Liara sighed, "I was just wondering if you wanted to participate on the book project with Javik and me."

"Me? I don't know anything about the protheans."

"As the only person in this galaxy with prothean visions and cyphers implanted into her mind, I tend to disagree," Liara said with a look that called for peering over the rim of glasses that she didn't wear.

Shepard shifted in her seat, this conversation was turning to be almost as awkward as the one time when Liara had come into her cabin to talk about what she wanted to have recorded on that memory time capsule. And that had been _so_ awkward.

"Liara, I don't think I can help you, it's not like I have a movie running in my head that I can tell you the plot of. If you come across any more of those devices, I'll gladly do the green eye thing for you but other than that..."

"Yes, I understand, but if you could at least read over the description of the vision we shared I would be very grateful."

The vision that the beacon of Eden Prime had implanted in her head, back when she still had been just a normal soldier doing her job, not the damn saviour of the galaxy. The memory made the vision's images rise in her mind and she consciously suppressed them before they would give her a headache.

"Yes of course," she said and took another sip of her coffee. At least it was good, and tasted almost like the real thing, even though it was some salarian-recreated brew and she would rather not know the ingredients of it. She looked at Liara, who was glancing around as if she waited for someone. The conversation had come to a stop and Liara and her had never really achieved that 'comfortable silence' stage in their friendship. This was more of a 'please, someone rescue us from each other' silence.

Shepard drained the last bit of coffee and stood up. "Well, I have a million things to do, I better get going." Although, now that she thought about it, her damn omni-tool had been strangely quiet all morning.

"No!" Liara cried out, before clapping her hand over her mouth. Shepard stared at her, she had never seen Liara this nervous, not even back in the day on the first Normandy, when she had just been a shy archeologist.

"What's the matter, Liara?" She tried to make her voice sound calming and caring but recently she found it increasingly difficult to muster the empathy for people's problems. There was so much at stake, so much to do, problems of galaxy-wide proportions piling up all around her and people still came to her with itty bitty nuisances. It was like she was the galaxy's therapist.

"Nothing," Liara said and looked around frantically, "I just thought we talk so little these days and I..." it was obvious that Liara had no idea how to end this sentence and the look on her face was one of sheer panic. But she was rescued by the arrival of a meticulously dressed turian with blinding white markings that were layered like painted leaves across his dark plates.

"Commander Shepard, I have been looking for you," the turian said in a deep voice, made rough by age and use.

"General Oraka, it's always nice to see you," Shepard said and shook the general's hand, even though she knew that that kind of greeting was a bit too human for a turian. But he indulged her nonetheless.

"Retired general, my dear Commander Shepard and it's Septimus for you, don't you know?"

"Only if you drop the Commander bit."

The turian chuckled with a subharmonic hum that made Shepard smile. Turian hums had that effect on her.

Septimus turned to Liara and said, "I hope you don't mind, Dr. T'Soni, but I really need the commander's help right now."

There was such a relief on Liara's face that Shepard made a mental note to talk to her about it later on. She said goodbye and took the arm that Septimus offered her. She grinned, she felt like a true lady at the side of this gentlemanly turian.

Septimus leaned down to her and spoke quietly, "First, I'd like you to accompany me to some sellers who think that they can, how do you say it? Pull a shirt over my eyes?"

"Pull wool over your eyes? You mean they want to overcharge you?"

"Not me personally, C-Sec. After your intervention we have gotten access to weapons again but some sellers seem to have lost their... how can I say this...?"

"Moral compass?" Shepard said.

The turian smiled, his mandibles twitching. "Yes, that seems to be a good expression. There's being a good businessman and there's being a war profiteer. I hope, having Commander Shepard at my side will –"

"– realign their moral compass," Shepard finished.

"Indeed!" Septimus grinned even wider.

"Well, as long as nothing urgent calls me back," Shepard said with a look towards her suspiciously quiet omni-tool, "I'm yours to use for intimidation as you please."

"I'm going to have a lot of fun with that," Septimus said with an amused trill in his subharmonics.

* * *

The third seller they visited seemed to have been warned by his competitors because he practically tried to melt into the floor as soon as he saw them. Shepard hardly needed to scowl at him to make him not only lower his prices to a reasonable level but also add his special 'friends and family discount' to it.

Septimus took her arm again as they left the market, a pleased rumble emitting from his cowl. "I haven't had that much fun in days," he said.

"Me neither," she said.

"Now that the business part is over, I wonder if you could indulge me a little more, Shepard," Septimus said with a soft hum. "I would like to show you something."

Shepard took another look at her omni-tool. It still had no new messages. "Hang on a minute," she said to Septimus and initiated a call to the Normandy.

Joker's voice came through her implant, "Yes, Commander?"

"Joker, I think my omni-tool is broken, I haven't received a message in two hours."

"No, it seems to be a quiet day, Traynor just told me the same thing," Joker said. "I could always ask the Alliance if they need us to turn off the lights at Admiral Hackett's house if you want."

Shepard snickered at that thought, "No, thanks, I guess everything is fine for a change."

"Yes, Commander, I'm sure to let you know of any problems when they come back. Normandy out."

She turned to Septimus and shrugged. "It seems to be your lucky day; I don't have any obligations right now."

"There's a turian saying: 'Luck shines on old wise men' and even if I don't like being called old and wise, maybe it is true today." He took her arm again and guided her through the crowds on the Presidium towards the bridge towards one of the Wards.

She looked around. The area had a distinctive turian feel to it, from the architecture to the smell of dextro-amino food. Septimus pulled her along, past clusters of turians with all their belongings in bags at their sides and storefronts that looked depressingly empty. Some stores had been closed and converted to housing quarters for refugees. A turian child, skin flaking on its plates, pressed their face against the glass, pointing at a human face that even turian children knew. She raised her hand and waved at the child, forcing herself to smile. The child grinned back and waved to her with a toy in their hand.

Shepard turned to Septimus with a scowl. "Why are we here? Do you want to show me how terrible the refugees live? I know what being a refugee is like; I was one once myself."

"Spirits, no," Septimus called out, layering an apology in his subharmonics. "That was never my intention." He stopped in front of a red door with turian writing on a beautifully decorated sign. "I just wanted you to see something."

He opened the door and let her through. They entered a giant room with a ceiling so high, that it was invisible in the mist that rose from the plants inside. The temperature was tropical, the air felt heavy with liquid and the light spilling through the trees had an orange tint. The hall was filled with trees and shrubbery and flowers bloomed next to winding paths. Shepard took a deep breath, taking in the heavy scents of the flowers in the air.

"I know what this is," Shepard whispered, "It's a Spirit Garden. Garrus has taken me to one before. This is to give a home and take care of Spirits that have lost their purpose."

"That is correct. In your terms it could be considered a church or a temple. But that wasn't what I wanted to show you," Septimus said and led her along the path to the side of the hall. Shepard had started to sweat the second she had stepped through the door and despite of the climate control in her armor, a slight sheen of sweat had appeared on her face.

"Is is as hot here as it is on Palaven?" she asked, wiping over her forehead.

"Ah, yes, sweating, such a strange habit. I'm very sorry Commander, for causing you this inconvenience," Septimus said. "Most of these plants are from Palaven, they need it warm but it is a bit more humid here than there. But..." he looked at Shepard, his mandibles quivering in a smirk, "in my experience, sweating is not always a bad thing."

"Yes, you would know that, wouldn't you, General?" Shepard laughed out. "But it is not for that reason right now."

"I'm glad, that would be awkward," Septimus deadpanned and took a turn on a smaller path to the side. He stopped at a tree behind a row of blooming bushes and indicated to Shepard to be quiet.

They had a broad view on a clearing where about twenty turians stood around two others. The couple held a branch with green leaves and blue trumpet-like flowers between them. An older turian woman stepped up to them and said something too quiet for Shepard to understand. The young couple looked at her and then at each other and said something quietly. Shepard watched eagerly, trying to catch everything in the ceremony but it was over all too quickly. The older woman said a final sentence that sounded like a poem and then the two young turians pressed their foreheads together, their mandibles twitching in a happy grin.

A remarkable sound rose from the clearing and it took Shepard a moment to realize that it was subharmonic singing, a sound that she almost felt more than heard. The singing seemed to drift through the air and it felt like all the flowers and trees turned towards the sound.

She leaned over to Septimus, keeping her eyes on the ceremony and whispered, "Is this a turian marriage?"

The old general hummed in acknowledgement. "We call this ceremony Sacra Sponsur Consilium. It is a promise for life."

The singing stopped and the group began to laugh and talk with each other and slowly walked towards a small building at the side that was apparently there for such an occasion. A table was set out in front of it with decorations and food. Shepard gazed at the happy couple, who couldn't take their eyes of each other. They still held the branch with the blue flowers between them and put it into a tall glass vase with water in the middle of the table.

"That branch will grow roots in that water," Septimus said, "In a few days they will plant it, probably here in the Spirit Garden."

Shepard looked around and noticed many bushes with the blue trumpets, some small and spindly, others strong with many branches. Blue was a significant color for turians as it was the color of their blood, just like it was with red for humans.

Shepard took a few steps towards one of the older bushes and leaned down to smell the flowers. It was an earthy scent with something that reminded her of cinnamon. Septimus came over to her and waited.

Shepard stood up again and looked past him towards the group of turians that seemed to now have a regular party with many drinks and some ritual involving a song and a dance. "Why did you take me here to see this?"

"To give you an idea, my dear Commander," Septimus said.

"I'm not turian."

"Nothing in this ceremony is in any way restrictive to species or gender."

Shepard kept looking at the happy couple as they pressed their foreheads against each other while a friend was throwing flower petals over them. Her vision blurred from tears that she quickly wiped away. "And you think...?"

"Ah, Shepard, I'm just an old man who likes to meddle. At least you'll have something to talk about now," Septimus said and offered her his arm again. "I think I have taken up enough of your time, let me return you to your ship."

Shepard checked her quiet omni-tool once again and then looked at Septimus. Turians were hard to read for a human but if you knew what to look for, it was easy to see what the equivalent of a hidden smirk was. In the end, they were not known to be good liars.

"What is going on here? Has Garrus set you up for this?"

Septimus chuckled, "Not for this visit in the garden in particular but he asked me to keep you occupied for a little while."

Shepard laughed out, "Oh, so you rescued Liara. Now I get it why she was so nervous, poor thing."

"Yes, the lady looked quite out of her element."

"Definitely. Today she rather likes hiding in her room on my ship."

Septimus took her arm and placed in the nook of his elbow. "I believe someone is waiting for you on the ship, let me bring you to him."

Shepard felt giddy with excitement, "Do you know what he has prepared?"

"No, I'm afraid I don't."

Shepard was suddenly in a hurry to get back and soon said goodbye to Septimus, thanking him for his time. She walked faster and faster until she almost ran towards docking bay D24. The constant jog also had the advantage that she was too fast for all the people that wanted to talk to her and she reached the dock without getting stopped.

The door to her ship opened and she happily skipped forward. Samantha Traynor stood at her terminal and gave her a wide smile. "Welcome back, Commander."

Shepard stopped next to her and laid her head to the side. "Samantha, do you have any messages for me?"

"Yes, Commander, as it happens, there is an urgent message waiting for you in your cabin." If Traynor could have grinned any wider, her teeth would have fallen out.

Shepard jumped into the elevator, bouncing on her tiptoes as she waited for it to reach the upper deck. When the elevator doors opened, Garrus stood there, waiting for her with his mandibles spread wide in a grin. He wore something that looked like a long coat, tied around his narrow waist and had one hand hidden behind his back.

"Shepard," he said with that subharmonic hum that always made her knees weak.

"Hi, Garrus," she answered and her voice sounded embarrassingly light. She cleared her throat to bring it back to her normal level. "What are you hiding behind your back there? Is it a rose for me?"

Garrus grinned. "No," he said and put his hand forward. He held a brightly colored beach towel towards her.

"A towel?" Shepard stared at him.

Garrus was still grinning. "Yes, and you should undress now, that armor is not suitable for the beach."

"We're going to the beach?"

"In a way, yes," Garrus said and kept standing in her way, looking pointedly at her armor.

Shepard laughed and unlatched the pieces of her armor. Usually she liked it when he did that for her but having him standing there, watching her while she peeled herself out of the layers of protection also held a certain appeal. She piled the pieces along the wall and pulled down the zipper on her underarmor. It pleased her to hear how he sucked in a shuddering breath when she let it slip slowly over her shoulder.

"You like what you see?" she asked, letting her voice drop low.

A deep growl left him and made her stomach turn to jelly. "Very."

She pulled off her socks and stood there in her underwear. Garrus kept looking at her as he slowly untied the sash around the robe he wore. He shook it over his shoulders so that it fell down. She let her eyes roam over his naked body, feeling a hunger burning inside her. She loved how he looked, never got tired of looking at him.

He looked at her underwear and made a trill. "You're still over-dressed, Sunshine."

"You want me to go to the beach completely naked?"

"It's our private beach, why should you wear underwear on our beach?"

"As you say, my Angel." She pulled the sportsbra over her head and wiggled out of her panties. It was a bit cold in the hallway but Garrus stepped over to her and placed the towel over her shoulders.

He opened the door to their cabin. A wave of hot air wafted out of the room and chased the chill away from her skin. The sound of waves rolling onto the beach almost drowned out the faint tones of steel drums. The hot air even smelled of sea salt.

Shepard slowly stepped into the cabin, almost expecting to feel sand under her naked feet. There was no sand but the room was decorated with artificial palm trees, colorful party lights, bamboo sticks and curtains with red and orange patterns. There was even a breeze going, softly blowing through her hair.

Garrus fiddled with his omni-tool and the roar of the waves turned down to a soft splashing sound. "That's better, don't you think?"

"Garrus, this is amazing! How did you do all that?"

"Traynor is exceptionally resourceful. And decorations are not in high demand currently, with the war and everything; someone was quite happy to get rid of it."

Shepard skipped down the few steps to the area with the bed and the couch. A thick beach towel was spread out on the floor with colorful images of beach umbrellas and dolphins. Against the foot of her bed was another blanket rolled up to give them something to lean against with pillows. On one side of the beach towel was a narrow box filled with sand and two small tables with bowls and cocktail glasses were placed next to the towel.

Shepard sat down, feeling giddy like a kid in a toy store around Christmas, and took a piece of fruit out of the red colored bowl. It was some kind of melon, as far as she could tell. Shepard could tell an apple from an orange but that was pretty much it. Garrus settled down next to her, arranging a pillow in his back to make himself comfortable. She looked down to the box of sand at her feet.

"This is for wiggling my toes in?"

Garrus let out a content rumble when he had finally settled down. "From what I have seen and read, wiggling your toes in sand is an essential part of the beach experience. But EDI protested against putting sand on the floor." He held out his arm and she snuggled up against his side. "She said something about uneven weight distribution but I don't quite believe that. I think she just doesn't want the sand to get everywhere."

EDI's voice rose over the sound of rolling waves, "According to my calculations and reports of experience, large amounts of sand could have a negative impact on – "

"– it's fine, EDI, I got it the first time you explained it to me," Garrus interrupted. "Now, privacy mode please."

"Logging you out," EDI said and although she probably still listened to everything that went on in the room, they were most likely safe from her running commentary.

Shepard scooted down on the pillow and dipped her toes into the sand. The instant she closed her eyes memories of beaches, laughing and running towards the water, rose up in her. She opened her eyes again and looked up to Garrus.

"Aren't you going to put your feet in? Don't tell me turians don't like sand."

"I…" he hesitated but after another nudge from her elbow, he lifted one foot and dipped it into the sand next to her foot. He trilled some subharmonic commentary as he moved his toes. "This feels weird."

"Have you never been to a beach?" Shepard asked, realizing that she didn't even know if Palaven had beaches.

"Not without boots. We've had combat training in basic at the beach close to our base but we had no time to relax there." Garrus lifted his feet and let the sand trickle out from between the plates on his feet. His mandibles quivered with the sound of a giggle. So turians were actually ticklish, despite what Garrus had been telling her for years. Shepard marked that information down for later.

Shepard adjusted her position, leaning her head against his cowl. The sound of waves crashing onto some beach, made her a bit sleepy. "So, what brought this on, Angel?" she asked to avoid falling asleep right away.

Garrus nuzzled her hair and gently stroked her back with his rough hands.

Shepard made a noise between a sigh and a moan and arched against his hand. "Gods, that feels so good, it ought to be illegal." She leaned over to get more contact to his rough exterior. His plates were rough against her skin but she had come to love that feeling over the years. "I honestly have forgotten how good you feel, I guess I really needed a break."

"That was the idea, just some time for the two of us," Garrus said, humming in that deep subharmonic resonance that she loved more than anything. He pulled her face up with a finger under her chin and kissed her. She melted into the kiss, drawing herself closer to him. His tongue dipped against hers and she shuddered.

Garrus pulled away, "Are you cold?"

"Really? The kiss of the century by my sexy boyfriend makes me shudder and you think I'm cold?"

Garrus chuckled and pulled her back to him. "Just wanted to make sure." His lip-plates bumped against hers again and she eagerly welcomed him for another searing kiss. They finally broke apart to breathe, Shepard was sweating for entirely different reasons than the heat in the room.

Garrus handed her her cocktail glass. She sipped the fruity drink, trying to distinguish the flavors but except for coconut, she couldn't really say what it contained.

"So, how did you get Septimus Oraka to distract me?"

"Septimus has been rooting for us from day one, don't you remember?"

"Yes, that's true but I never would have thought that he would be down for this."

Garrus grinned. "He's actually pretty funny, once you spend some time with him."

Shepard sat up so that she could look at Garrus' face. "Speaking of funny, he took me to a Spirit Garden." She watched Garrus' face for his reaction but he was well trained in keeping his face impassive. But that he felt the need to keep his features under control like that was telling in itself.

"There was a ceremony going on that we watched, it was called something Sponsur consilum –"

"Sacra Sponsur Consilium," Garrus corrected, a bit too quickly.

"Yes, he said it's like a turian wedding."

A rumble of subharmonic sounds came from Garrus' chest. "It can be seen like that." He looked up to her, his eyes piercing. "He took you there to watch it, did he say anything afterwards?"

"Only that we now have something to talk about."

"That clever bastard," Garrus rumbled but he didn't sound mad. "And he did it, as an elder, it is even valid." He laughed out loud before his face turned serious again.

Shepard took another sip before placing the glass on the table and climbed up on Garrus to straddle him. "Explain yourself," she demanded.

"While you sit like this?" Garrus said, pointing at her very naked labia moistening his slit which barely needed any at that point.

"Part of the interrogation technique, my dear." She was determined to not let anything ruin the good mood, regardless how serious the conversation would be.

Garrus let his head fall back and sighed. "You know that traditional turians have arranged marriages. Nowadays, the young people usually already know each other and have brought up the idea of the Sacra Sponsur themselves. But traditionally, one of the clan elders, usually the mother or the father of one of the couple would initiate the process. How is not specified but watching someone else performing and celebrating the ritual is a common practice."

"Oh," was all she could say. She had suspected something like this but now she didn't quite wanted to face whatever could come from this conversation. "Let me guess, it should have been your father doing that. I'm sorry."

Garrus trilled negatively. "No, it just has to be an elder, not even necessarily from the same clan. My father actually has..."

"Has what? Oh my god, your father already initiated that thing and you didn't tell me!" she yelled out and punched him on the chest. "Garrus Vakarian, I'm gonna beat you to a bloody pulp!"

"Ouch, no, Jane stop!" Garrus laughed while he grabbed her wrists to stop her. "Please, can I explain?"

"You better!"

Garrus sat up and took her hands in his. "My father can't be the conciliator, he lost that right when I broke with my family."

Shepard stilled. She had conveniently forgotten about that. "But I thought you have reconciled?"

"Yes, but I haven't been officially admitted back into the family. Septimus was actually the perfect conciliator, a well respected elder with a high rank in the turian Hierarchy."

Shepard felt a tiny fear creep up her throat. She had not intended for this conversation to turn to a point where they would question their relationship but it seemed to go that way. "Hey, if you don't want to talk about this –"

Garrus raised a hand to her face, "No, Sunshine, that's not it, don't you worry." His thumb stroked over her cheek. "You see, for me, we've already done this."

"Done what?"

Garrus let his eyes wander to the artificial palm trees. "Remember, after Sidonis... when you..."

Oh she remembered. Back when she thought that Garrus would never let go of the darkness he had embraced. Back when she had told Archangel to leave the Normandy because he hated her for being alive.

"When we got back together, do you remember what you said?"

Shepard racked her brain, "Something about that _this it_ , I think."

"You said 'If we do this, if we are going to be _us_ again, then this is it. You and me till the end of the line.' I don't even remember what I answered but for me that was a promise for life. Just like a Sacra Sponsur Consilium."

Shepard took a shuddering breath. "So, for you, we're already married?" she whispered.

"Yes."

"Oh."

"I don't know if you meant it like that back then, but –"

Shepard stopped him by pressing a kiss on his mouth. She only let go of his lip-plates to press her forehead against his. "I meant it exactly like that."

Garrus let out a breath with a hum. "I'm so glad."

His hands grabbed her head and he held her, forehead to forehead while he hummed with his subharmonics. A faint whiff of the smell of cookies told her that he had released his marking scent on his forehead, scenting her as his. She placed her hands on his neck, her thumbs softly stroking over the sensitive skin there. His humming became louder and vibrated through her body. It reminded her of the song she had heard at the ceremony in the Spirit Garden.

After a few minutes he stopped humming but still held her head to his. Shepard wondered if this was part of some ritual she had no knowledge of. She slowly leaned back to look at his face. "Hey, Garrus, are you alright?" she asked, experimentally wiggling her butt in his lap. She relished in his gasp and the feel of his slit opening under her.

He looked at her and smiled. "Yes, I'm alright, my sun of Palaven, I'm just so happy."

Shepard blushed and smiled so wide that her cheeks hurt. But then she replayed what he had said in her mind. "Sun of Palaven?"

An embarrassed trill left him. "Many turian love songs and poems feature the glow of the sunsets on Palaven."

Shepard opened her mouth for a funny quip but stopped herself. She thought back over the time they had known each other, all the way back when their main problem had just been a rogue Spectre. She looked at Garrus and her love for him glowed in her chest. "But... you called me Sunshine from the very beginning. I thought it was just a funny thing you did because I called you Angel."

"I may have been influenced by turian-asari love songs at the time," Garrus grumbled quietly and then looked her in the eyes with such sincerity that her heart almost stopped. "I loved you," he said quietly, "more than I understood myself, right from the start. Calling you Sunshine was the closest I could come to admit that to myself."

Shepard clasped her hand over her mouth to stop herself from letting out a squeal. She leaned forward and placed a kiss on his forehead. "You lovely, romantic nerd you." The secretion of his marking scent tasted sweet on her lips. She leaned forward and whispered into his ear, "I love you so, so much!"

"I love you too, Jane."

And her heart wanted to jump out of her chest when she heard him say, or rather purr that.

He pulled her close and she adjusted her body to his form, making her skin touch as much as possible of his. They kissed, soft and slow until it just wasn't enough anymore and their kiss became urgent, tongues sliding against each other, lips sucking, teeth scratching.

She held onto him like his body was all that stopped her from drowning, frantically pressing herself against him. She moaned into his mouth and kissed and nibbled along his face and mandibles, tasting him and the unique sweetness of his skin.

He reciprocated by licking along her neck and she shuddered. Her neck was her weakness, even more than her breasts and the way his rough tongue followed the curve of her neck from her ear to her shoulder made her gasp and whimper uncontrollably. Her fingernails were scratching at his plates as she tried to pull herself even closer.

She tilted her hips to press her aching core against his arousal. "I need you, I want to feel you inside of me," she moaned.

"In a minute, love, I want to taste you first," Garrus growled more than spoke and the rushing of her blood in her ears drowned out all other sounds. All she heard was his voice, his growls and moans, as he tipped her over and focused the attention of his tongue on her throbbing clitoris.

Pleasure rushed through her body, making her twist her fingers into the beach towel as she helplessly arched her back. She wanted him closer but she also wanted him to never stop what his did there with his tongue. Pushing, stroking, circling, raising her up to the crest of pleasure only to slow down and give her a pause to breathe and building her up again and again.

"Oh god, I want … I want…" she babbled, her hands searching for purchase, her body moving and writhing out of control.

Garrus raised himself up on his hands, moving over her. "Are you ready?" he asked, the tip of his penis teasing at her entrance.

"Yes!" Shepard wrapped her arms and legs around him and pulled herself onto him, taking him in with a moan. Garrus moaned along with her and held himself still to give them both time to adjust.

"I don't think I'll last long, are you okay?" he hissed through his teeth.

"No, because you're not moving. Come on, let me feel you, let me hear you," she huffed and thrust her hips against his.

Garrus let himself rock backwards against the foot of the bed and pulled her along so that she straddled him. "I want to see you come first, come on love."

He moved his hip in rhythm with her and softly rubbed a knuckle right over her core of pleasure, watching her with his mandibles spread wide, holding her up with his other hand on her back. He hummed and she felt the vibration through her body, filling her, raising her up, up and up and she came apart with a gasp, tensing and moaning, her hips moving, taking him deeper as she rode him to his own climax, his hum turning into a roar.

They collapsed in a mess of fluids and limps, holding onto each other for dear life.

"I love you, my Angel," she whispered against his cheek.

"I love you, Sun of my life," he murmured, underlining his words with a hum of love.

Shepard felt like her heart wanted to explode, she almost couldn't breathe.

For a while they stayed quiet, entangled, stroking and caressing each other with lazy hands and fingers.

Shepard broke the silence. "You know, that ceremony in the Spirit Garden…"

Garrus turned his head to look at her lying on his cowl. "Yes?"

"I would still be up for it if you want it too," she said quietly, not quite looking at him.

"The promise, the Sacra Sponsur Consilium? Or a human style wedding?"

"From what I've seen, a human wedding is not much different and I'm not bound by any religion." She raised herself up to look at him. "I know we're already promised to each other and I don't need a ceremony to know that you and I are forever." She placed a hand on his mandible, softly stroking over it with her thumb. "But I still would love to do this is you want it too, for everyone to see. I want everyone to see how lucky I am and what an incredible man I found and how happy he makes me."

Garrus caught her lips in a kiss, humming a whole song of subharmonics. He let go of her lips to press his forehead against hers with a happy sigh. "No one can be luckier than me. To find you, to be with you, is the best thing that ever happened in my life." Another surge of subharmonic hums left him, expressing what he felt with more than words. "Yes, I want to do that ceremony with you, with all our friends and family. I want that memory of you with those blue flowers for the rest of my life."

"I'll get Samantha on it, her and Liara will handle it," Shepard said.

Garrus pulled her towards him again to kiss her. He mumbled against her lips, "I never thought I could be so lucky, to see the love of my life as my Sacralae in a Spirit Garden, waiting for me to hear my promise…"

Shepard kissed him to stop him. "Shut up, you're making me cry, you damn romantic you," she said, wiping her eyes. "Let's go take a shower and then I want to spend the rest of my beach day talking about who we'll invite to our wedding."

"Alright, right behind you," he said and followed her as she walked over to the bathroom. She looked back and her heart ached in hope to always see this, him, right behind her, no matter where she went.

In her mind, she said a quiet thank you towards the Spirits that had guided them here and watched over them. "Good job, guys."


End file.
